Aircraft Carriers

Hundreds of sailors were almost blown or fell overboard. Myself included. There's no CV named the Popeye. And I spent 20 years in the USN..still no ship named Popeye.. Also thousands of pilots were shot down during WWII.

I just don't think because a man was president his name should be on a CVN. In some cases I will agree.

In my opinion, Esienhower, Roosevelt, Washington, Reagan & Lincoln are names that could be and are on CVN's..plus Nimitz. DD(G)'s have long been named for men. That's what the USN should do. But the politicians have their fingers in the pie. The Sec USN is nothing but an appointed politician. And he's the person in charge of offically naming ships.

About that naming of CV(N)s after politicans, is the "George Bush" the first to be named after a former president/politician still alive, or was that common practice?

Scratch said:

About that naming of CV(N)s after politicans, is the "George Bush" the first to be named after a former president/politician still alive, or was that common practice?

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No, the first was Carl Vinson, but he died before the ship was actually commissioned. He was followed by Arleigh Burke, who had an entire class of destroyers named after him, then John Stennis, followed by Ronald Reagan, Paul Nitze (got a Burke-class destroyer named after him), Jimmy Carter, then Bush.

Now I have to divert attention from the naming topic.
Yesterday I stumbled across an intersting point while surfing through the net.
I found that the "Charles de Gaulle" has a computerized stabilization system called SATRAP, wich can adjust the flight deck up to 0,5° horizontally to help maintain air-ops in heavy sea state (up to 5/6).
In a short search I found that this was introduced in the USN abord the "Nimitz" in 2003 in support of OIF.
Can anybody comment on that? Is it now common on USN CVNs? How helpful is it?

Scratch said:

Now I have to divert attention from the naming topic.
Yesterday I stumbled across an intersting point while surfing through the net.
I found that the "Charles de Gaulle" has a computerized stabilization system called SATRAP, wich can adjust the flight deck up to 0,5° horizontally to help maintain air-ops in heavy sea state (up to 5/6).
In a short search I found that this was introduced in the USN abord the "Nimitz" in 2003 in support of OIF.
Can anybody comment on that? Is it now common on USN CVNs? How helpful is it?

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The the Charles de Gaulle I could see where such a system is needed. Because the ship is only about 40,000 tons. And would not be as stable as a larger CV. But a Nimitz class deck is very steady. It's like being in a building.

I do not know if a Nimitz class has such a ablity.

The bottom line is: politicians have a final say how much $$$ the Navy (and the rest of the military, for that matter) is given, so in effect they own it-therefore, it's no surprise that they name big ships after themselves.
For many years, the Army been operating aircraft named after some Native tribes- why not Navy ships?
IMO ships must start getting names of Native American war chiefs and distinguished service members- with few exceptions, the Navy wasn't involved in the so-called Indian wars, and the Army took a good beating from them! I wonder if Senator Ben Nighthorse (a Chyenne) will ever get his name on a USN ship?!
Also, there are plenty of names of explorers connected to N. America to choose from- Spanish, Portugese, French, Italian- and naming big ships after them would serve as a recognision of their contribution to navigation.

BLUEJACKET said:

The bottom line is: politicians have a final say how much $$$ the Navy (and the rest of the military, for that matter) is given, so in effect they own it-therefore, it's no surprise that they name big ships after themselves.
For many years, the Army been operating aircraft named after some Native tribes- why not Navy ships?
IMO ships must start getting names of Native American war chiefs and distinguished service members- with few exceptions, the Navy wasn't involved in the so-called Indian wars, and the Army took a good beating from them! I wonder if Senator Ben Nighthorse (a Chyenne) will ever get his name on a USN ship?!
Also, there are plenty of names of explorers connected to N. America to choose from- Spanish, Portugese, French, Italian- and naming big ships after them would serve as a recognision of their contribution to navigation.

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The USS Red Cloud, The USS Geronimo, the USS Sitting Bull. I don't know. They were all good warriors but they were on land. You could take the IJN approach and give your ships more poetic or abstract names like...I don't know I can't find any English translations of the Japanese names, but I think you know what I mean. How about the USS Dawn Treader.

Many ships and subs were named after the states with Native/Spanish names at their roots, so perhaps the chief's names could be used in their original languages, not the English translations. There were also some in the SW who had Spanish names- Diablo, Victorio, Mangas Coloradas, Loco, etc.

CVN-74 is homeported in Bremerton WA. Yesterday CVN-74 at NAS North Island in San Diego CA to onload the remainder of it's air wing personell & equipment in prepration for their deployment to the Persian Gulf region today.

Everyone of you fellows intrested in CV's knows about the planes, escorts, electronics and other warfare wizardy. But that ship would be nothing without the sailors that man her.

The squadrons loading on CVN-74 yesterday are stationed at NAS Pt Mugu, Nas Lemoore, NAS Noth Island and MCAS Miramar.

Ships company on a Nimitz class is about 3,200.

Ships company = Those personell permantely assigned to the ship.

Air wing is comprised of about 2,600 sailors.

Pic #1 is some Marines and sailors milling around smartly preparing to board CVN-74.

Pic #2 are Sailors moving cruise boxes(red) and tri-walls to an aircraft elevator so they can be unloaded in the hangar and the gear stored in them them to the proper work shop. All of those boxes fold up flat so they are easily stored.

Pic #3 is a Marine placing seabags on a conveyor to be loaded on the ship.

Air wing = Those personal assigned to the ships embarked squadrons.

Jeff, in the "ideal chinese carrier" thread, you mentioned this huge naval off-shore air-base thing. I thought here might be a better place to discuss it in general. Could you imagine this thing being forward deployed as a constant, or at least long term base in remote/hot-spot areas?
I mean it seems to be pretty slow and it not suitable for quick reaction forces. But it can offer support for larger ops than even a CVN (more, and most important heavier aircraft). Especially at places where no land base is available.
Problem would be defending it, it can't really hide in the ocean. Probably easy to detect such a big thing and it can't really manuever. Plus you'd loose a lot of assets with it.
On the other hand the US seems to be able to cover most of the world in sufficient strength right now.